Behind Amaltaas is a story that began long before the brand did.
This is a conversation with Neha Saidha Mehta, Founder, CEO and creative force of Amaltaas, about an army childhood, the unexpected journey from the corporate world to jewellery, a daughter's simple observation that became the Amaltaas tagline and the jewellery she actually lives in.
Q. What is the first piece of jewellery you remember loving?
The first piece I truly loved was not even mine.
Growing up, I watched my mother and the other army wives get ready for formal evenings. Jewellery was always that final touch. I remember being fascinated by how one piece could change not just how someone looked, but almost how she carried herself.
I would quietly try on my mother's jewellery whenever I got the chance.
That early fascination stayed with me. Even today, when I design, I think about jewellery in much the same way. It does not need to overpower you. Sometimes one beautiful piece is all you need.
There is always some piece that stops being jewellery and simply becomes part of you.
Q. Your daughter helped create the Amaltaas tagline. What actually happened that day?
It really did happen exactly like that. I asked my eight-year-old daughter what she thought jewellery was, expecting a very simple, child-like answer.
She said, "Mummy, jewellery is the last thing you wear when you are getting ready."
That stopped me. She had captured the entire idea of jewellery without even trying. It is that final thing you put on when you are almost ready to walk out of the door.
And that is how "Jewellery for the Ready You" was born.
Q. Army kid to corporate career to self-taught jewellery designer. How did that happen?
Growing up in the army meant a new city every few years, new people, new places and constant travel.
You learn to observe. You learn to adapt. And without realising it, you absorb something from everywhere you go.
I never formally trained as a jewellery designer.
I studied Commerce Honours at Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University, followed by a Masters in Communication at MICA, Ahmedabad. I then spent close to fourteen years in the corporate world across India and London, working with organisations including Reckitt and Burson.
But jewellery was always there somewhere in the background.
I later married into a family with more than four decades in the jewellery business in Jaipur. Suddenly I was much closer to the world of gemstones, craftsmen and jewellery making that I had always loved.
In 2019, I started Amaltaas as a one-woman team.
I learnt by doing. By sitting with craftsmen. By asking questions. By understanding why something worked and why something did not. By looking at a design on paper and then seeing what happened when a craftsman interpreted it with his hands.
I am still learning. And perhaps that is one of my favourite parts of building Amaltaas.
Q. What is the one Amaltaas piece you never take off?
I am almost always wearing two or three Amaltaas pieces.
Right now, it is my Silver Blessed Hand Bracelet and my Nazar Anklet.
They go with almost everything, but more importantly, they carry meaning for me.
That is really what I want Amaltaas jewellery to become. Not jewellery that sits in a box waiting for an occasion, but jewellery you actually live in.
Pieces that slowly become yours.
Q. Amaltaas started as a one-woman business in 2019. What excites you about it today?
What excites me most is how much Amaltaas continues to evolve while the heart of it remains the same.
It began with me doing almost everything myself. Today, there is a team, there are incredible craftsmen behind the pieces and there are customers across India and beyond who have made Amaltaas part of their own stories.
I am also fascinated by what happens when something as old and deeply human as jewellery craftsmanship meets something as new as AI technology.
For me, technology should never replace the human part of Amaltaas. It should simply help us work smarter, understand our customers better and allow more people to discover what our craftsmen create. The jewellery will always be made by human hands. Technology, specially AI that we use a lot for performance and lead generation, simply helps more people find Amaltaas.
Q. Who is the Amaltaas woman?
She is rooted in her Indian heritage but completely modern in the way she moves through the world.
She values tradition, not because she is told to, but because it means something to her.
She may wear a sacred symbol with a white shirt, silver jewellery with a sari or an anklet every single day simply because she loves it.
She does not wait for an occasion to wear the things that make her feel like herself.
She is ready for the day.
Ready for the moment.
Ready to shine.
She is the Ready You.
